The council chairman Lagos Island Local Government, Prince Tijani Adetoyese Olusi has reeled out score card of his administration and unveiled planned projects for people within the local government.
The council boss during a brunch with media partners said the council is determined to re-create several Parks and sit-out areas along the Marina, bring back the lunchtime conviviality, night-time leisure, and stimulate weekend life with a family amusement and recreation life supported with blue economic activities.
He added, “We intend to construct several parks in the inner neighbourhood, and install solar-powered lights along its roads, upgrading city culture has become a new project on our agenda.”
In his speech at the event which was held on Thursday, February 24, 2022, he sought cooperation and support of members of the Fourth Estate of the realm to report and publish activities and challenges of the council.
Below is his full speech at the event:
Together Let’s take the City of Lagos back to its Pre-eminence Victorian age where the City Works for All. Let Us be the City Culture Catalyst for Ownership
Good morning members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
I thank you for finding time to join me for a brunch date. Today I do not want to bore you with statistics of how many kilometres of road have been reconstructed, or how many meters of sewage canals have been cleaned and upgraded and so other services which we have been able to deliver to our people in Lagos Island but to seek your cooperation and support towards my determination to take our dear City back to its pre-eminence and thereafter notch it to the next level.
The City of Lagos is the largest in Nigeria in terms of its daytime population which is about 13 million people between Monday and Friday while its resident population is 500,000; yet it is the smallest in landmass- just 8.9 sq. Kilometres.
I aim to create a new awareness with the media of our efforts to re-ignite the flame of Eko Akete Ilu Ogbon where everyone is his brother’s keeper. A City that works for all, healthy, environmentally beautiful, culturally awake, and artistically creative. That was your City and my City; the city culture, and to stimulate interest to inform the public to take ownership for their actions.
We are determined to re-create several Parks and sit-out areas along the Marina, bring back the lunchtime conviviality, night-time leisure, and stimulate weekend life with a family amusement and recreation life supported with blue economic activities. We intend to construct several parks in the inner neighbourhood, and install solar-powered lights along its roads, upgrading city culture has become a new project on our agenda.
With the city bursting at its seams, I requested the media’s active engagement to educate the public on urbanization and the problems it is creating.
Improved city culture is just an idea. As a committed Mayor of the City of Lagos, I am therefore asking the media, intellectuals, and people on the street to tell us what kind of city you want. Your opinions will become the blueprint for a specific plan of action in addition to the ones which we have set on stream for the Year 2022.
The objective of the meeting is to engage our media partners in a discussion to ensure that you effectively report the next twelve months of activities with the rightsholders spread across our local government.
I call for feedback from you my dear friends in reporting and publishing the activities of the project so far and the challenges faced.
Our resolve to take head-on the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic is borne out of the need that, the number of people traversing the City daily transacting trade and commerce is the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to see that they are healthy. We have set in motion several initiatives to respond to this health challenge.
COVID-19 Response
As we have been confronted with the simultaneous challenge of combating the public health crisis of the pandemic alongside a weakening economy. Given the mounting evidence that the social and economic impacts of these twin crises are likely to be significant,
Alleviating the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis is vital for preventing poverty from deepening and increasing in Nigeria; before the crisis, approximately 4 in 10 Nigerians were living below the national poverty line, and millions more were living just above the poverty line, making them vulnerable to falling back into poverty when shocks occur.
The impact of COVID-19 has been most strongly felt in the commerce, service and agriculture sectors. 79% of respondents reported that their household’s total income has decreased since mid-March 2020.
It is based on this that, I signed Executive Order 03 Mass Vaccination and Mask Wearing in Lagos Island Local Government. Indeed, I launched advocacy on this while enforcement will start from the first of March 2022. I seek your partnership on this very important advocacy. Attached is a copy of the Executive Order.
Women Empowerment
Our administration has mapped out a strategy on advocating on ending violence against women and children, financial inclusion, and transformative, sustainable, and inclusive governance with special attention to women’s leadership in communities deeply rooted in patriarchal structures.
These interventions seek to achieve the mindset and behavioural change, as well as support communities to review their constitutions from a gender-friendly perspective.
Special attention is given to promoting and implementing a zero-tolerance policy to sexual violence and other gender-based abuses, especially those rooted in obnoxious cultural traditions; and multiple challenges faced by aging women.
The department of WAPA shall hold several workshops in schools and communities with psychologists and training experts targeting young girls to teach them about sex education, domestic violence, abusive relationships, and self-esteem when they are young; and better prepare them for the life-long challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities ahead. We are building the capacity of our women to empower them economically, our upgraded School of Vocation & Technical education will embark on vocational training and skills acquisition programs, the establishment of microcredit schemes, the establishment of small businesses for women as well as leadership retreats.
Youths (especially the Girl-child & School Dropouts):
Drop out from school is a global phenomenon. In Nigeria, people drop out of school for various reasons like early marriage, pregnancy, religious factors, socio-economic factors, school-related factors, and ill-health.
Community Development
Our programs involve developing eco-friendly communities as well as entrepreneurial and vocational skills acquisition for members of the community especially women and youth.
Unemployment in Lagos Island is one of the most critical problems we are facing. The years of fighting corruption, civil war, non-democratic rule, and mismanagement have hindered the economic growth of the country. The vocation school is developing a new 21st-century curriculum in lifelong sustainable skills development/capacity-building programs such as entrepreneurship/agro-based small businesses, as well as the Hospitality/Catering training programs amongst others, to help curb irregular migration and unemployment in the City of Lagos and empower women and youth to be self-reliant.
This would be achieved by implementing the “GHEEES Model” as follows:
For an inclusive Community Governance structure and processes, with enhanced economic growth in which community members must:
1. Be Healthy
2. Get Education and skills
3. Promote Entrepreneurship
4. Protect/sustain their Environment and natural resources
5. Ensure adequate Security is in place
This GHEEES model approach, developed by Regina Amadi the Initiative is an essential and primary building block in local, national, and global development. It plays out locally within national frameworks with impacts on global levels and agenda.
If, for instance, a community development plan is well designed and implemented within the framework of the State and globalisation, it will ensure the well-being of its people as well as provide a model of how important community development is to national and global peace security. These are very necessary for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Health
• Health Center (CSDP)
• Annual Medical Outreach
Education
• Alpha Nursery/Primary School
• IT/Computer Center
• Health Meal for Kids
• Scholarships for Indigent Kids
Environment
• Tree Planting
Enterprise
EKO Youth Empowerment Scheme (EKO YES-Agric) and Livestock/Fish Farm settlements
Skills Center
We shall launch the Eko Akete Afterschool Graduate Development initiative (Eko GRAD) in partnership with The EKO Institute
To strengthen the capacity of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security agencies to enforce law and order, we have established the LILG Taskforce on Security and Environment.
The Local government will provide the bulk of the infrastructure for the new Taskforce outfit if we must deepen the spread and operations efficiency of security apparatus and agencies in the City of Lagos. We shall hand over to the State’s Fire Service, new firefighting equipment with an aerial ladder platform fire truck, We shall also equip them with a foam fire truck, rapid response utility fire fighting vehicle, and two 10,000-liter water tankers. A fire station will be located along the inner Marina Street, Lagos.
We are determined to the City of Lagos from the gloomy days of traffic jams to much-improved traffic flow across the metropolis, saving thousands of Lagosians from stress and putting money in their pockets through much-shortened travel time. Our commitment to public transportation will see the resuscitation of the Lagos Municipal Transport Service (LMTS) which will be in collaboration with the private sector to ply routes, where a lot of people trade-in and engage in commercial activities in Lagos Island.
We have declared an emergency in our Primary Healthcare system to carry out a comprehensive revitalization of our healthcare delivery. The burnt Zenith Flagship PHC in Isale Eko shall be rehabilitated and delivered for the benefit of our people not later than July of this year. Rehabilitation of all PHCs and equipment of these Primary Healthcare Centres are the major projects to be completed in the health sector during 2022.
Prince Tijani Adetoyese Olusi
Chairman,
Lagos Island Local Government
Thursday, February 24, 2022
